Comments on Cranky Fitness: Breast Self-Exam Slackers: Good news?

A few years ago I was shopping around for a new gy...

2008-08-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I was shopping around for a new gyno, and gave a nurse practitioner a try. She asked the standard, "do you check your own breasts monthly?" and I replied, well, sometimes, when I remember, it's not that often, kind of reply. You'd have thought I'd just admitted to shooting up heroin every evening with dessert. She spent the rest of the exam doing her best to shame me--naughty, negligent girl that I was! I found another health care provider, never did get on the BSE bandwagon, and still have healthy ta-tas, thank you very much.

I both a) don't do regular exams and b) lie to my ...

2008-08-08T23:43:00.000-04:00

I both a) don't do regular exams and b) lie to my doctor when she asks if I do.
Meh. It falls so far down on my list of things to feel bad about that I'm pretty sure I'll never get to it.
On the plus side, I do stay pretty familiar with my breasts (I LIKE them, ok? They FEEL NICE), and even if I didn't, I'm pretty sure my husband would notice something early on(he REALLY likes them).
For the most part, I just refuse to fear breast cancer. Even if I do get it (very few risk factors), survival rates are so much better than they used to be. I'm much more threatened (statistically) by the drive to the grocery store.

I don't bother. I either tell my gynecologist I've...

2008-08-07T02:00:00.000-04:00

I don't bother. I either tell my gynecologist I've been doing the exams, or I'm honest and tell her I haven't been. My boyfriend, however, is always very concerned that I don't do the exams.
I probably won't start doing them.

Wow, I've never given a thought to breast self exa...

2008-08-06T22:09:00.000-04:00

Wow, I've never given a thought to breast self exams. Probebly because of my age, but the idea has never occured to me. And I work in a medical field to!

Or, what marijke said.

2008-08-06T19:48:00.000-04:00

Or, what marijke said.

A seriously bada** holistic friend told me if you ...

2008-08-06T19:47:00.000-04:00

A seriously bada** holistic friend told me if you drink enough water (and it's more than you'd think) it reduces the cancer risk down to like, twenty percent of what it would otherwise be given your genes and environment.

So given the risk of false positives and the stress that would then ensue, and the fact that from everything I've read excess stress is one of the principal causes in any event, and I'm supposed to be doing the water thing anyway, I do it (most of the time) instead.

Exercise also is supposed to help. I think a big part of it is all about lymph movement.

Of course, both of my parents are survivors (my dad's was quad tissue, not upper body). So I could be in massive denial.

Or not - it's easy (and perhaps necessary to defuse sanity-destroying compulsive worrying) to do all the preventative work that you can, but how much control do we really, at the end of the day, have over it, anyway?

I forget usually, so it turns into a "whenever I r...

2008-08-06T19:46:00.000-04:00

I forget usually, so it turns into a "whenever I remember self-exam." I suppose though even doing it makes no difference because I can't tell what I am doing. I lack confidence in my ability to notice anything, but I suppose if something was really wrong I would notice. That is probably a terrible way to go about it, but oh well.

I'm a bit lax on my feminine health at the moment....

2008-08-06T19:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit lax on my feminine health at the moment.

Then again, I'm 22, overworked and underpaid. I'll get to the gyno when I start making some real money and/or I get health insurance.

I don't do the self-exams either. My first lump ma...

2008-08-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

I don't do the self-exams either. My first lump made itself known by hurting. The resulting mammogram and biopsy were very stressful. That one was benign. A year later it hurt much more and had grown, so I had it taken out. It was while I was checking the incision for that one that I found the other lump.

It wasn't until a year later that it was diagnosed as cancerous. I have so much scar tissue in (what's left of) that breast now, that I just let the Dr. do the exam and with annual mammograms I don't worry. I get exams every 6 months on the other side now though, because they found calcium crystals that they want to keep a close eye on.

Anyone that wants the whole gory story can go to my site, but you have to go back into the archives.

Crabby, I'm so there with you! At 33, I found a li...

2008-08-06T16:44:00.000-04:00

Crabby, I'm so there with you! At 33, I found a little lump and after an ultrasound, mammogram and needle biopsy it was determined to be just a cyst. But it scared the you-know-what out of me. I never know if what I'm feeling is supposed to be there or not.

So I generally don't do them. I'm 40 now, though, so I have a yearly mammogram. And I do have an exam done by the doctor each year.

But for me to do my own exam freaks me out...so I don't.

I figured that the breast exam didn't have anythin...

2008-08-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

I figured that the breast exam didn't have anything to do with survival rates- I thought it was just so that you could find out if you had cancer or not and catch it early on and hope for the best. (yep, you can tell I sure do my research:P).

My doctor is male and awkward in a funny/cute way. One time he asked me haltingly if I do breast exams. I said I hadn't (but I have breast cancer in my family). So then he pauses awkwardly and he says, "okay, well, I suggest you do a self exam. Theres no need for me to do it. I'm sure that you can do it yourself just fine." Lol.

i don't do them.... my tissue is lumpy too, and i ...

2008-08-06T15:25:00.000-04:00

i don't do them.... my tissue is lumpy too, and i have a mild anxiety disorder, so why cause myself more panic than is completely necessary? besides, i'm 22, and none of the women in my family (that i know of) have had cancer.

I always forget and I'm not in the least ashamed. ...

2008-08-06T15:15:00.000-04:00

I always forget and I'm not in the least ashamed. I did have a lump once and I easily found it without having to do a formal exam on a certain day of the month.

Funny thing is that I wasn't very worried, and after I did a little research, I became even less so. It was the effin' DOCTORS who tried to get me to freak out!

For example, I was naked from the waist up, waiting for the ultrasound guy, and damn if he didn't troop in with half a dozen students and only THEN ask if I minded. (I didn't because I used to be a pre-med, but that's not the point.) Then he did the ultrasound, with me watching the screen while he pointed out to the students all the things one should look for. He said, "These are the signs of a classic fibroadenoma." But would you believe it, after the exam, he tried to tell me...*cue the scary music*...it might be CANCER!

Fucking bullshit.

Finally the surgeon checked me, shrugged and said it was almost certainly benign and I could have it out or not, my choice. But he warned me that adenomas tend to keep growing, so I decided to have the lump taken out. I couldn't afford custom bras.

Anyway, probably TMI, but cancer is unheard of on either side of my family, I have no risk factors, and in my own experience I find my lumps without even trying. Probably because I'm pretty small.

Regular self-exams are the right call for some women, but the scare-mongering the medical profession indulges in pisses me off to no end. Can ya tell?

My mother had breast cancer....an important subjec...

2008-08-06T14:04:00.000-04:00

My mother had breast cancer....an important subject. Thank you.

TMI ALERT! I like doing my BSE's. I like feeling...

2008-08-06T13:25:00.000-04:00

TMI ALERT! I like doing my BSE's. I like feeling in touch with all parts of my body and like to know what's going on with the girls on occassion. So I don't mind the monthly exam. And my boobs are teeny tiny so it's not like it takes a lot of time. I'm also an avid mole checker in case anyone wanted more info on my personal habits;)

I think Crystal may have hit the "survival" thing ...

2008-08-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

I think Crystal may have hit the "survival" thing on the head. Survival usually means very small lump that hasn't spread. I'm sure by the time I could a lump, it would not affect survival.

I rarely if ever do a self-exam. I have my mammo annually and have a yearly exam. Like many others, my breasts feel lumpy to me, so who knows if I'd feel something and know that it's something new/different.

By the time you can feel breast cancer the term ea...

2008-08-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

By the time you can feel breast cancer the term early has gone out the window, that is why there is not increased survival. Most people who feel a mass, the mass is greater than 3cm (over an inch)which in the real would is not large but in the world of tumors is big. So if self exams make you want to have a nervous breakdown, then don't. However, if something changes or you happen to feel something new, get thee to a doctor quick. Denial can kill faster than anything else.

Have to admit I don't do them - I have to many fib...

2008-08-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

Have to admit I don't do them - I have to many fibroid thingys (that's the correct technical term, right?) and would be in a constant panic. I do get my yearly mammograms though!

I'm a slacker for sure, I'm glad the annual squish...

2008-08-06T11:23:00.000-04:00

I'm a slacker for sure, I'm glad the annual squish-o-gram seems to be the way to go now.

Crabby,I do the breast exam when I accidentally re...

2008-08-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Crabby,
I do the breast exam when I accidentally remember I have breasts, and mine aren't all that tiny. I get my mammograms though.

Too bad there's no real *feelie* test for uterine cancer!

I don't do them. I also have the fibrocytic breast...

2008-08-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

I don't do them. I also have the fibrocytic breast (had an adenofibroma taken out at age 35, after a suspect baseline mammogram, even). It's so lumpy in there, that all I do is upset myself. So, after a few months of attempting it back in my younger years, I gave up.

I'll hope for better and better breast imaging....

The P

I am a self checker slacker...I am the same way, I...

2008-08-06T10:51:00.000-04:00

I am a self checker slacker...I am the same way, I stress over something that isn't there.

The Bag Lady is such a slacker in so many things, ...

2008-08-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

The Bag Lady is such a slacker in so many things, and this is one of them. But she does manage to go to the doctor on a reasonably regular basis.....

I NEVER do them. I don't even think about it.But ...

2008-08-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

I NEVER do them. I don't even think about it.

But OMG, I LOVED the shame picture. LOVED. I could use that picture for so, so many things.

I'd say I do a BSE in the same proportion as I flo...

2008-08-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

I'd say I do a BSE in the same proportion as I floss my teeth - meaning that I should floss every day but I end up flossing a couple times a month, and I should do a BSE every month but I only remember a couple times a year. And in both cases, when I go see the dentist/doctor, I feel the same amount of (shame's not the right word, more like oops I'll try to do better), except that the BSE always seemed like it could have a bigger impact.

But maybe not. Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about forgetting. I'm another one in the camp of the lumpy breast, so I never really know what's normal and what's not.